Saving the Future
by redstarsarc
Summary: A distress signal sends the TARDIS to a galaxy far, far away and perhaps another universe entirely. Now it's up to the Doctor to clean up the mess. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Act I

He'd been in the Time Vortex for only a few hours when the TARDIS made a sound that he hadn't heard in a while and always meant that something exciting was going to happen. It was a tiny beeping sound that sent him hurtling over to the console, long coat flapping behind him. A tiny beeping and a blinking light.

"Oh, someone's sending out a distress signal," the Doctor said, far too cheerily for the circumstances. "It's weak, though. But the TARDIS can latch onto the signal and take us right there."

"Who is it?" Donna asked, joining him at the console.

"Can't say," the Doctor said. "Don't recognize the signal, but it's always fun to meet someone new and we haven't done anything exciting in _ages_."

"What about that little sojourn on Peladon? If I recall, that was enough excitement for a week."

The Doctor grinned. "All in the past, Donna."

Donna opened her mouth but before she could say anything, the TARDIS lurched, sending the both of them sprawling on the floor. The Doctor stumbled back to his feet and grabbed onto the console.

"What was _that_?"

The Doctor flipped a switch on the console, took in the readings. "Something just tried to push us out of the time vortex, but that's _impossible_. What could –" He was cut off short when the TARDIS jolted again and he was slammed into the console.

Donna gasped, trying to stay on her feet. "You're a Time Lord from a super advanced civilization and this thing doesn't have any inertia dampeners?"

"What? Don't be ridiculous."

" _Well_."

"Seriously? You've been watching too much television."

The TARDIS gave one final jerk and was ripped out of the Time Vortex and sent spinning through space.

"The strain was too much for her. But what could do that? Who –?"

" _Doctor_ ," Donna yelled. "If you haven't noticed, we're crashing!"

"Right." The Doctor stumbled and turned on the viewscreen. "Right," he said again. He lunged across the console and flipped a switch, triggering a shower of sparks and a flickering of the lights. The TARDIS seemed to level out a bit but there was no returning to the Time Vortex and no materializing in the normal fashion.

With a thud, the movement stopped.

"We've landed," said the Doctor.

"Yes, I guessed that part, but what exactly happened back there?"

" _Something_ pushed us out of the Time Vortex. Don't know what, don't know who, but it's definitely not good. We'll know more after a bit of exploring, what do you say?"

"Fine. I need to get out and kiss the ground anyway."

The Doctor sniffed. "Are you insulting my piloting skills?"

"Doctor, you can barely pilot the TARDIS anyway. The bloody whatever-it-was that kicked us out just helped."

"I resent that."

Donna grinned. "After you, then."

Shaking his head, the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors and stuck his head out. "Seems safe enough," he reported. "A bit bleary. Atmosphere is breathable, that's a bonus. You coming?"

Donna followed him outside the TARDIS. The surrounding area was mostly rock, the sky a sandy color, mountains in the distance. There were two suns, one bigger and brighter than the other. Definitely not Earth, then.

A humming broke the silence as the Doctor waved the sonic screwdriver around. "That's interesting. There's some sort of temporal interference coming from this planet. Explains why we were kicked out of the vortex, though. But what could cause this – it's a bit like Time Lord tech, but they're gone and that's all died with them. It could – no, it can't be."

"Doctor."

"Someone's been messing around with time and it's centered around this planet."

"Doctor."

"And this – well, this is where the distress signal was coming from, but it's stopped now and –"

" _Doctor_."

"What…oh."

"Hello Doctor," said the man who'd stepped out from behind the TARDIS.

"It's you."

The man, wearing long brown robes, chuckled. "Very astute of you."

Donna wrinkled her nose. "Doctor, do you know this man?"

The Doctor kept his gaze trained on the newcomer. "I wish I didn't."

The man tutted. "Now that's very rude. After all the things we've been through and it's been such a very long time."

"You've regenerated," the Doctor said, ignoring this last statement. Donna raised an eyebrow. The newcomer wasn't that much to look at, that was for sure. Wearing old-fashioned robes, he was a squat figure with short dark hair and piggy eyes. "You're shorter."

"And you're a twig."

The Doctor was unfazed. "What are you doing here?"

"Doctor, who is that?" Donna said.

"Oh, how rude of me," the man said. "The Monk, at your service." He gave a sardonic bow.

"What kind of bloody stupid name is that?"

"This man delights in meddling with history and if he knows what's good for him, he'll leave," the Doctor said. "Now I'm going to ask you again, what are you doing here?"

The Monk smirked. "You ruined my TARDIS. You didn't think I'd just let that slide, did you? You don't know what it's like to be stranded in one place, in one _time_ for so long."

"Oh, I think I do," the Doctor said, flashes of forced regeneration flitting through his mind.

"I was lucky. I managed to get a lift and lookie what I find. A TARDIS. A fairly old one, but I'll take what I can get. Still shaped like a police box, I see. How _boring_."

"There's no way you're getting my TARDIS."

"Don't be so sure," the Monk said and he pulled a gun out from inside his robes, training it on the Doctor. It was black and bulky and futuristic.

"Guns. Why is it always _guns_ ," the Doctor moaned.

"If I were you, I'd be moving. _Doctor_."

"And just where to?"

That smirk again. "You'll see."

The Doctor sighed, but turned and walked away from the TARDIS.

"Doctor, who is this?" Donna whispered. "Is he another Time Lord?"

"Yes. We were actually friends once. But he was always getting into trouble, always trying to interfere. Escaped Gallifrey about fifty years after I did." The Doctor didn't try disguising the disappointment in his voice. "He never respected our rules. Meddling in history became a hobby for him."

"Can't you do something?"

"Oh, yes. But I'd rather find out what he's really up to and I can't do that if I escape, can I?"

It had been a long time, so long, since he'd seen the other Time Lord. But seeing him here, now…it worried him. The Time Lords were gone, all of them. Gone. That one had escaped the Time War…it sent a chill up his spine. There was a reason all the Time Lords were gone and the Monk was one of the better ones, albeit one of the greedy, stinky ones.

"So…Monk, is it? Not Mortimer or Abbot or any of those?" the Doctor said. "That's sort of…blunt, don't you think? I mean, sure, a name's a name, but at least choose a good one. Anyway, I wouldn't think you capable of this except I've learned never to underestimate people, but was it you who caused the temporal interference? I'm awfully curious."

"Talk as always, Doctor," the Monk said. "Does that work on all your enemies?"

"You'd be surprised."

"Well, if you must know, it _was_ me. And fairly soon, you're not going to care anymore."

"Now _that_ would be quite a feat," the Doctor said, halting and turning to face the Monk who quickly raised the gun, a nervous look flickering in his eyes. "You know what I think? I think you're working for someone. And that temporal interference? You're messing around with time again and I will stop you. Time is not simply a _toy_ to be tinkered with at your leisure."

"And yet you yourself have meddled with time more than anyone can count. Something's not to your liking? Simply pop into the past and fix it. By my reckoning, you're not that different from me."

"You know it's not the same. You do it for _fun_. Doesn't matter who gets hurt."

"Only you, in this case," the Monk said.

From behind the Doctor came the sound of marching feet. He hated the sound of marching feet. He especially hated the sound of _mechanical_ marching feet which was exactly what it sounded like and the memories it brought up weren't good ones.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw that gratefully they weren't Cybermen. He didn't recognize what they were, but knew they must be at least as dangerous. They were androids, white with long faces and slender limbs and they walked like upright dogs. They each carried some sort of bulky weapon, rifles. More guns. This day was just getting better and better.

They came to a halt several feet away.

One the Doctor assumed was the leader took a step forward. "Sir." It inclined its head at the Monk. "You will relinquish the prisoners."

The Monk fiddled with his grip on the gun. "Of course," he said and the Doctor knew he wasn't imagining the nervousness in his voice. "Of course. Just…ah, one thing first. I'll be needing the key."

The Doctor knew exactly what he meant. "You're not getting it."

"Aren't I?" He switched his aim so that now the gun was pointing at Donna. "You care about the humans, don't you? Well? Come on, Doctor. I need that key and I'm not leaving here without it. I'm not staying in this place any longer than I have to, not in this time."

"You better be pointing that somewhere else soon or you're getting it right in the eye," Donna growled.

"Ooo, I like this one Doctor, she's a keeper."

"Oi!"

"Well? Haven't got all day, now have I?"

When the Doctor spoke next, it was in a low voice, a deadly voice. "You don't harm her, Monk. I swear, if you _harm her_ –"

"All I need is the key."

The key, his only way out of here. But _Donna_. _No one hurts my companion. I promised myself I would keep her safe at whatever the cost._ The Doctor reached into his pocket and removed the TARDIS key, flinging it at the Monk in disgust. The Monk fumbled, almost dropped it.

"Wasn't so hard, was it?" he said. The Doctor glared at him and he switched his gaze toward the androids. "Right, got what I need. You can have 'em."

The nearest droid nudged the Doctor with its rifle. "You will come."

The Monk continued to avoid the Doctor's menacing glare as he and Donna were lead away by the droids.

Meanwhile, the Doctor's mind was working a thousand miles a minute, thinking, calculating. _He will take the TARDIS. He has a head start. There are twenty androids in this unit. The sonic could put them out of commission but they could get in a couple of rounds before I even manage to get it out and then I would regenerate. No, don't want to do that._

 _Wait and see what happens. Find out who their leader is. Find out what he wants. Forget the Monk. No, but he's got the TARDIS. Must deal with that later. Trust the TARDIS to keep him occupied until I can get back._

 _Right. Leader. Temporal interference. Distress signal. Possibly all connected. Find out how and why. Whoever is commanding these androids obviously doesn't want me killed outright so perhaps he is willing to talk._

Soon he could see buildings just up ahead. They were rather makeshift, probably hadn't been here for very long. A new settlement, then. A few small ships were parked around the perimeter. _Never seen that design before_. The Doctor was itching to get out his sonic screwdriver and examine them but another prod in the back reminded him of his situation.

The Doctor and Donna were lead into a building and nudged into a cell. A force field flickered into existence and then settled out. The droids left.

"Well. Right where we need to be." The Doctor leaned against the wall, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Just wait for a bit – they always make you wait, have to look incredibly busy and important – and then we find out what's going on, break out of here, find the Monk, and get the TARDIS back."

"That's it, is it?" Donna said dryly.

"Yup. Pretty much."

 _He'll be there by now. Should take him a bit to understand its workings. The TARDIS at least should keep him from dematerializing, hopefully long enough for me to get there._

Wasn't much to do here. Getting bored, the Doctor started to whistle.

Donna snorted. "Really? _X-Files_?"

The Doctor shrugged.

It was at least half an hour before the door on the other side of the room opened and more droids poured in, followed by a black-robed figure. The person approached their cell and threw back his hood, revealing a wrinkled face and a head of gray hair.

"Hello." The Doctor grinned. "I'm the Doctor. Who are you?"

"I know who you are," the man said, ignoring the question. "You've got…quite the reputation. Your…ah, _friend_ has told me quite a lot about you."

"Really? That was good of him."

"He also tells me that you travel through time, that you know quite a bit about it."

"Oh…well, just a little."

The old man sniffed, displeased. "Perhaps you know a little something about communication through time. Such as…that between two, shall we say, _versions_ of someone in time."

" _No…_ You're talking to another version of yourself? That's…that's not impossible, no, but rare, so if you're doing it, why ask me about it?"

The man allowed a small grin, but there was nothing humorous about it. "It's getting to be a strain. I already know everything I need to know. Now I would like you to make it stop."

"Well I'm not surprised. Something like that is _bound_ to cause a great strain on your own personal timeline, but honestly, all you needed to do was _ask_. Do you treat all your visitors this way?"

"I have very little patience, Doctor." With the press of a button, the force field flickered and fell. "You are going to make it stop. I'd much rather if you cooperated willingly, but I've found that threat of death," – he nodded at the droids, who pointed their rifles at Donna – "provides great incentive."

The Doctor took a step forward, the back of his neck burning. _They always know my weakness_ , he realized. _My companion. My companion is my weakness_. It always hurt, it really did, and when his companions were threatened, it made him so _angry_. He'd had so many and he remembered every single one and they'd all left him, every one of them, leaving him to grieve. He was _not_ going to lose another one.

"Fine," the Doctor said, his voice level. "I'll do it. But then you will let her go, you understand?"

"You are in no position to bargain."

" _Do you understand_?"

The man regarded him coolly. "That's curious. Apparently I've chosen my threats wisely. You demand your companion's release and not your own?" He watched for the Doctor's expression, but saw nothing new. "I will have no need of either of you after this."

It wasn't exactly a promise but it was the best he was going to get. "Hold still."

"Oh, and one more thing," the man said. "If anything should happen to me, my droids have orders to kill her. So if I were you…I'd be careful."

"Just hold still," the Doctor said again and raised his hands to place them on the man's face. He closed his eyes and suddenly he was no longer in his own body, no longer standing there with his companion's life on the line, light-years from her home.

He fell deeper and deeper within the man's mind, searching, searching. Seeking out that link. But he was unprepared for what he saw.

 _A flashing red blade, heaps of bodies, things burning, armies of droids marching on countless planets, destroying. There were so many deaths, a fierce battle. There were others with blades of blue and green, but they too were cut down. Nothing could stand before that red blade and the lightning and the endless armies._

The Doctor reeled from these memories of the future, memories this man couldn't have, memories he didn't have the _right_ to have. And despite his strong mental discipline, he found himself being drawn in, recalling things he'd buried under hundreds of years of experiences, of memories, of trying to forget.

 _"EXTERMINATE!"_

 _So many wars, so many deaths, he'd seen those monsters tear down civilizations. He'd seen them make war on the Thals and the Time Lords and the humans and countless others. They survived, they always survived._

 _And the Year That Never Was, the worst year of his life, having to deal with all the death, with the knowledge that so many humans were dying and it was all his fault and there was nothing he could do about it. He tried to escape, tried to forget, but it was so hard._

The Doctor gasped, realizing that this man, this evil, wicked person could see into his thoughts and he felt a cruel smile brush up against his mind and he cringed.

He had to do this. Versions of someone communicating through time were unnatural, he couldn't allow this to continue. More flashes in his mind. He saw a face that had been buried so deeply under the faces of countless others. An alien who'd splintered himself into a dozen fragments scattered throughout time and whose only goal was to fix himself and to bring back his people. The Doctor had tried to help, had really _tried_ , but he couldn't condemn the human race that way and he'd seen the last of that race die.

Something snagged him, a stray thought, and pulled him closer and he felt the thin thread of the link between past and present. He had to sever it. Had to prevent this evil man from knowing the future, from manipulating it, from using that knowledge for his own gain.

He reached out to it.

 _Hello, Doctor_. The voice sent a shiver down his spine.

 _I have already done what needed to be done_ , the voice said, an old voice, a voice full of cracks, a voice that hissed. _And there is nothing you can do about that. The universe will be all the better for it._

Frantically, the Doctor searched.

The voice laughed. _You will not find it here. I can see into your mind, Time Lord, and I know that you delight in preserving planets for your own amusement. But this time, you are too late._

 _What have you done?_ the Doctor demanded.

 _What I have done is perfect the universe, Doctor. My younger self now wields this knowledge and that is all I needed to make sure that everything goes according to plan. Now no one will be able to defeat me. The Sith Lords will soon rise and not even the Jedi will be powerful enough to stop us._

 _You cannot_ imagine _how many times I have heard that line_ , the Doctor thought back. _You do not want to test me and you know why? Because every time, every_ single _time…I win._

That dry laugh again. _Your arrogance is truly astounding. But I'm afraid that's all it is._ With that, the voice was gone.

The Doctor cut the link.

His eyes flew open and he staggered. He willed his hearts to slow.

The man cocked his head to the side as if listening for something and then he smiled. "It's gone. Well done, Doctor." He spun on his heel to leave the room, but turned back just before the door. "Oh, and you're…free to go." He pulled his hood back up over his head and walked out.

The droids hefted their weapons so that half were pointing at Donna and half at the Doctor.

"Didn't you hear?" the Doctor said. "We're free to go."

"Our orders were to terminate prisoners," one of the droids said.

"Ah. Donna, drop when I tell you to."

"What?"

"Now!" The Doctor collapsed to the floor, the air above him lighting up with the bolts from the droids weapons. He rolled and shot back to his feet on the other side of them, shouting, "Drop your weapons! I'm armed!"

The droids shuffled uncertainly, unable to determine the function of the metal device the Doctor pointed at them.

"I said drop your weapons. I swear I will use this." He noted, with great relief, that Donna had dropped to the floor and appeared uninjured.

The droids did not lower their weapons.

"That is not important," one of them said at last. "You are trying to stall for time."

Well that didn't work out so well. Quickly flipping the setting on the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor activated it and the droid stiffened, falling in a heap on the floor. He switched the aim, taking out another and then another. He sensed one just behind him and ducked just as a bolt shot over his head and hit the wall, sending metal debris falling.

"Donna, the key!" he shouted.

She tossed it at him and he caught it, glad that he always had a spare TARDIS key for his companions. Another bolt shot just past his shoulder, searing the air and he adjusted the setting on the screwdriver again, aiming it at the sky. It glowed blue and whined a high-pitched whine that soon became inaudible to human hearing.

And then, the most glorious sound he'd ever heard, the sound that had accompanied him on ten lifetimes worth of voyages and he couldn't help but smile as a familiar blue shape materialized in the center of the room.

The TARDIS groaned and whooshed and finally thudded into position in time and space, that light on the top flashing in greeting. Bolts of energy ricocheted off its wooden frame.

 _Good ol' girl!_ the Doctor thought, turning the key and shoving himself and Donna inside the TARDIS, slamming the door behind them.

At the console, the Monk stared. "But what…how…?"

"Game's over, Monk," the Doctor stated, running to the console and fiddling with the controls. The Monk tried to take out the blaster again, but the Doctor knocked it from his hands. "And _no more guns!_ "

"But he should have…"

"Should have killed me?" the Doctor finished. "You should know better than that, you were my friend back on Gallifrey. You should have known it wouldn't be this easy." He flipped a switch and the center column began to rise and sink as the TARDIS dematerialized. "You should also know that that man you were working for…he was never going to let you escape."

Without warning, the Monk lunged at the Doctor, trying to tear him away from the controls.

"I will not let you do this to me, Doctor!" he shouted. "I will not be stranded in time again!" The two of them crashed against the console and the Monk pinned the Doctor's arm down, trying to reach for the lever with his other hand.

"I tried to give you a chance, but you wouldn't _listen_." The Doctor easily escaped the Monk's grip and hauled him away from the console. "You could have left well enough alone, but you made a different choice and I made mine. I couldn't let you fiddle with time. You had to be stopped. That wasn't my fault."

"I-I'll return back to Gallifrey," the Monk stuttered. "I won't meddle anymore, I promise, I just don't want to be _stranded_ anymore, you can understand, can't you? It's _horrible_."

"You get used to it," the Doctor said coldly. Memories flashed through his mind of UNIT. Of the Brigadier and Liz and Jo and Sarah Jane. The time he'd been stranded on Earth. It hadn't been so bad, really. He'd come to enjoy it.

"Oh, please, Doctor, _please_ ," the Monk said and it was amazing how fast he'd gone from smug captor to sniveling wretch.

"Oh for the love of – _you're_ a Time Lord?" Donna said. "I've seen Adipose with more spine than you've got. Now _get up_!" For the Monk had fallen to his knees, hands clasped in supplication.

The Doctor returned to the controls in silence occasionally broken by the Monk's sniffling.

"Wh-where are you taking me?"

The Doctor didn't answer.

With a whooshing sound, the TARDIS materialized and the Doctor grabbed the Monk by the arm, hauling him over to the door.

"Wait, _wait_! Where is this? Y-you're not taking me back to the Time Lords, are you? Are we on Gallifrey?"

The Doctor opened the door. "Gallifrey is gone." He dragged the Monk out of the TARDIS and spun him around to face him. "You won't be causing any harm again," he vowed. And then he left him there, returning to the TARDIS and taking her back into the Time Vortex.

All throughout, Donna just watched. "Doctor," she said eventually. "Where did you take him?"

"Gaia," the Doctor replied. "Small planet home to a humanoid race of highly advanced pacifists. They should be able to handle him."

"Doctor…it's more than that, isn't it?" Donna said softly. "Back there when you…when you were inside that man's mind. What did you see?"

At first she thought the Doctor wasn't going to answer. "He's changed the future," he said finally. "I saw the damage he did. But I couldn't see _what_ he did that changed it. I didn't have much time." He went over the readings on the console, adjusted one of the knobs. "I planted a seed of insanity that won't show itself for several years," he admitted.

"Wait…what?"

At that moment, the TARDIS materialized and the Doctor ran to the door. "We have to find out what he's done."

They were back on that first planet, the desert with the two suns and the mountains in the distance. And a circle of humans with tattered clothing and makeshift weapons, all staring wide-eyed at the place where the TARDIS had appeared seemingly from thin air.

The Doctor waved. "Hullo."

The humans exchanged glances, all of them wary of being the first to speak up. Then one of them said, "Hands in the air. No sudden movements, hear?"

 _Here we go again._ The Doctor raised his hands, motioning for Donna to do the same once she'd closed the TARDIS doors. They were nudged into the middle of the group and they all set off across the sand.

"You look familiar. Have we met before?" the Doctor asked.

The leader's eyes flickered. There was just the slightest widening, the slightest flicker of recognition. "I-I don't recognize your face."

"Oh, I suppose you wouldn't, it's new." A pause. "What's your name?"

"David," the man said after a hesitation.

 _David, David… Now why does that ring a bell?_ "And…ah, where are you taking us?"

"Back to our camp." The man adjusted his grip on the rifle.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Never can be too careful," David said. "We've been under attack ever since we got here."

"Ah. Right."

They came to a small settlement built in the curve of the wreckage of a spacecraft. Shipwrecked, the Doctor realized.

"That…that blue box. Was that your space ship?" David asked tentatively.

"Yeah…well, she's a lot more impressive on the inside."

"Riley, keep your eye on them," David ordered a younger man who nodded. "I…I have to report this." Nearly tripping over his own feet, David retreated into the mass of tents.

 _Now David… That certainly does ring a bell. An ancient, cracked, out-of-tune bell, but a bell nonetheless._

"Did you come here from Earth?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes," Riley answered, seeming uncomfortable holding the rifle on someone who looked very much human himself.

"Now this is important. What year?" Things were beginning to click in the Doctor's mind but he couldn't be sure, not yet, not until he had proof.

"2176."

"Twenty-second century, after the war with the Daleks…" The Doctor's eyes widened. "David. _David_! I know who he is!"

"Who?" Donna wanted to know.

But before the Doctor could answer, David emerged from one of the tents. A woman was with him. A slender woman about David's age and with curly hair. When she saw the Doctor, she froze.

"Did you…did you come here in a police box?" she asked.

For once in his life, the Doctor found himself at a loss for words. Slowly, he nodded.

The woman, a look of expectation coming across her face, took another step forward. Reached out as if to touch the Doctor, pulled back. "You've regenerated."

"Many times."

A slow smile began to spread across the woman's face, lighting up her features and creasing the skin around her eyes. Everything was in place now. Without warning, she lurched forward and wrapped the Doctor in a warm embrace. "Grandfather!" she exclaimed.

Behind him, Donna choked. "Grandfather?!"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: First off, thanks to those who have read chapter 1 and a special thanks to DarkMattersShadow for the review.**

 **And without further ado, here is part 2 (grahh, didn't mean for that to rhyme...)**

* * *

Act II

For one amazing moment, the Doctor could pretend that all was well, that everything was back to the way it was. That it was just him and Susan on Totter's Lane and a stolen TARDIS resting in a junkyard. Before he'd ever met the Daleks, before he'd begun his endless voyage through time and space. Before the war. When all he ever worried about was whether or not to allow Susan to attend a human school.

Finally, Susan relaxed her grip and stepped back.

"How did you get here?" the Doctor wanted to know. " _Why_ are you here?" Everything else was completely forgotten in light of this wonderful discovery.

"We'd just about managed to destroy all the Dalek bases on Earth and the colonies," Susan replied. "But then we found out about a Dalek convoy that was posing a threat to one of the deep space colonies. We managed to damage their weapons systems and then gave chase when they refused to surrender. I-I'm not sure exactly what happened after that. There had been reports of an increase in electromagnetic interference in the area. I… _something_ happened and it damaged our ship beyond repair. We were forced to land here."

 _More like crash, by the looks of it_. "Electromagnetic interference… Do you have any idea how far you are from Earth?"

Susan shook her head. "Something must have damaged our navigation controls. They don't appear broken, but they won't give accurate readings. It's like the ship doesn't know where Earth is…it doesn't even have this planet on its computer."

"I think I understand what's happened," the Doctor said. "The electromagnetic interference… You've gone through a wormhole and I think it's a safe bet the Daleks have too."

"They're here alright. But we're in no condition to fight them."

"Ahem…" Suddenly the Doctor remembered Donna and, feeling guilty, he turned back to face her. "Doctor, when were you going to tell me you're a _freakin' grandfather_?"

"Ah…now, apparently. Donna, this is Susan. Susan, this is Donna," he said, feeling just a bit awkward. "I…uh, I'm going to go over there, er, talk with David."

Donna looked like there were a million things she wanted to say but the Doctor sauntered off before she could voice any of them. It was always a shock, the Doctor thought, when companions were forced to deal with his old age. Oh, well.

"Is there anything you can do to fix that ship of yours?" the Doctor asked.

David glanced at its looming hulk before answering. "We're working on it. There's a colony due east of here that have promised us their help in return for whatever medicines we can spare. They too have been hit hard by the Daleks."

"Right. And I suppose you're not leaving here without making sure the Daleks can't do anyone further harm, am I right?"

"You're correct, Doctor," David said. "As long as those Daleks are still here, they pose a threat to our survival and that of Earth."

The Doctor nodded, understanding but not liking it. The Daleks had become like a plague, spreading out through the entirety of the universe and killing all in their wake. He felt an uncharacteristic rage rise in him at the very thought but he forced it back down. He looked back to where Donna and Susan were talking, two otherwise normal women who had been drawn into a life of adventure and danger they couldn't have anticipated.

Sighing, he turned back to David. "We came here following a distress signal. Yours?"

David's brow furrowed and he shook his head. "We ourselves picked up a distress signal not long after we got here. Come, look at this." He led the Doctor into a large tent that looked like a makeshift workshop. Bits of mechanical debris littered a wooden table and was pushed off to the corners of the tent. Technical papers poked out from beneath it all. David pulled out a device no larger than a football, black and metallic with several buttons along its side and a light diode that was currently switched off.

"We pulled this out of the wreckage of a ship," he explained, handing the device to the Doctor who took it and rolled it over in his hands, examining it. "A fighter by the looks of it. Whoever the pilot was was gone when we got there."

He pressed one of the device's buttons and a humming sound emanated from inside it along with a flickering blue light.

 _Holographic emitter,_ the Doctor mused. But the inner workings must have been damaged in the crash for the image that appeared was severely distorted and pixilated. From what he could discern, it was a single man, probably human, but that was it.

 _"…require assistance,"_ the hologram said in a crackling voice. _"Hostiles are incoming…"_ A flurry of static drowned out the man's words and the image flickered. Eventually, the static died down and became the sound of distant striking, almost like blaster fire. There was a sound like wind, a distorted sigh. _"This is more than a simple illegal weapons factory. I think…"_ A sudden roaring of static and the entire thing destabilized and shut down.

"Hmmm," the Doctor said. He cradled the device in one arm and went over it with the sonic screwdriver. "Hmmm," he said again. "This is fascinating."

"What is?"

"Well, we're a _lot_ farther from Earth than any of us realized."

David stared at him, wanting him to elaborate but before he could prompt him, Susan came in through the tent flap.

"We've got visitors," she said. "A group from the colony."

"Right, I'll be right out," David said.

The Doctor placed the device back down on the table but continued to ponder it. Something felt a bit…off. He didn't know what or why, just that nine hundred years of experience had given him the ability to sense such things. He wondered if this in any way had to do with the droid army or the Monk or the man with two names, two lives. Remembering that particular meeting sent a jolt of discomfort through him. Shaking his head, trying to organize his thoughts, he left the tent with David.

Outside, a small group of people were meeting with some of David's soldiers. As soon as they spotted David, one of them, presumably their leader, rushed toward him and gave a short bow. The man, while human, had skin painted white and red tattoos on his face. He wore long flowing robes with the cowl pulled down to reveal lank white hair, though the man was obviously not old enough for the color to be natural.

"You must help us," the man said in a thick, stuttering accent. "They have attacked. They kill my people!"

David, alarmed, put his hands on the man's shoulders to calm him. "Who, Kai'phim, who? Was it the Daleks?"

"Yes and no," the man, Kai'phim, said. "There were others with them, androids. They just started shooting. I tried to get everyone out but it was so sudden, I…" His voice caught in his throat. "We all scattered. I do not know what happened to the rest."

"They didn't even want anything?" the Doctor asked, horrified.

"No," the man said. "I don't know. One of them, of the androids, said we needed to die, said the future did not need us."

"The future…" the Doctor murmured. He cast a worried glance over his shoulder at Donna, their thoughts the same.

 _I have already done what needed to be done_ , that eerie voice echoed again in his mind. _The universe will be all the better for it._

"He's already acting on his knowledge of the future," the Doctor said.

"Who?" David asked.

"Probably trying to change history," he continued, ignoring David, caught in his own thoughts. "There's no telling what kind of havoc he can cause, even with the slightest of changes. Yet he's started out by killing people."

"So what are we gonna do about it?" Donna said.

The Doctor took a deep breath, his decision made. "We go to the future." He grinned and tapped the side of his head. "I know roughly where he's coming from. We need to see what he's done."

"Will you be coming back?" Susan asked, coming to stand in front of him. He looked down at her, his granddaughter who he hadn't seen in centuries, a grown woman now.

"You're welcome to come with," he said quietly, a moment of sentimentality catching him by surprise. "Like old times?"

Susan smiled. "Despite the troubles, they were fun," she said. "But no, not this time, Doctor. I'm needed here. We need to help Khai'phim's people and there's no guarantee the androids or the Daleks will leave us alone. I expect we'll have a fight on our hands soon."

"Yes, I suppose so." The Doctor worried for Susan and for David and their people, but he forced the feeling aside. They were soldiers, all of them. They could take care of themselves.

"We'll hold the fort here," David said. "You do what needs to be done."

The Doctor nodded and turned to head back out into the desert in the direction of the TARDIS.

"Oh, and Doctor…good luck."

#

The Doctor listened to the beautiful whirring sounds as the central column rose and fell and the TARDIS thrummed around him. He monitored the controls, making adjustments where needed. Outside was the whizzing chaos that was the Time Vortex. Throughout the journey, he kept replaying in his head his encounter with the old man and the sinister voice of his even older self, mocking him. The Doctor gritted his teeth at the memory.

When they arrived in the proper time, he brought the TARDIS on one of its smoother landings and the familiar grinding noise signaled that they'd materialized.

The Doctor exchanged a look with Donna and she saw the seriousness in his eyes. Normally arriving somewhere new excited him. This time, however…

"Come on, let's see what's out there."

He opened the TARDIS doors and they found themselves in a corridor with metal walls and pipes running along the ceiling. A deep thrumming emanated from the walls, like that of an engine deep within the bowels of what he could only assume was a ship. There was an air of foreboding that permeated the very air of the place. As the two walked, they came upon branching corridors in what seemed like a maze. Several times, they saw groups of droids or white-armored figures marching past and had to duck into a nearby nook or hall to avoid being seen. In single-minded, militaristic formation, they kept their gazes ahead and did not notice the intruders.

"I'm already not liking the look of this future," Donna muttered. "Where are we?"

The Doctor glanced up and down the next corridor, a grim set to his features. "Where we need to be." He looked back over his shoulder and noted the unease on his companion's face. Forcing a smile, he jerked his head in his chosen direction. "Come on."

Suddenly, the sounds of blaster fire broke the stillness in the air, accompanied by the pounding of feet.

"Quick! He's getting away!" came a shout and a moment later, a man was running down the hall and nearly collided with the Doctor. A red bolt of energy sent sparks cascading from the ceiling where it had hit wide.

The man, his hair ruffled, his clothes worn and scruffy-looking, seemed just as surprised as the Doctor when the two came face to face. For a moment, it was like he expected to find himself against another enemy but when the Doctor made no move against him, he put the thought away.

Another bolt hit the wall just behind the man, who flinched instinctively, jolted out of his surprise.

"Well don't just stand there," he said. "Run!"

They didn't need any more prompting than that.

Back down the corridor they ran with blaster fire at their heels, the occasional high hit sending sparks raining down on them and it was either extreme luck or a miracle that none of them were hit.

They slipped around a corner and the man put his back against the wall, a blaster appearing in his hand. He grunted. "Low on power. Figures." He looked around the corner and fired at their pursuers, downing one of the them.

"Why are they after you?" the Doctor asked.

"You kiddin? Just escaped one of their prison cells. It was either that or execution." He fired again. "Alright, this way." He took off down the hall and the Doctor and Donna had little choice but to follow him.

When next they stopped, having outdistanced their pursuers, the man checked the power setting of his blaster and then raised it to point at the Doctor's face.

The Doctor held his hands up defensively at the same time Donna said, "Oi! What the bloody hell are you doing?"

"I'm not stupid," the man said, his gaze, as well as his aim, steady. "No one gets in here unnoticed. How convenient for me that two of the good guys just happen to be wandering the corridors during my escape."

"Quite, actually," the Doctor said. "I promise you, we are not with them."

"Huh. I don't make a habit of trusting people I just met," the man went on. His grip tightened on the blaster, his finger over the trigger. "You're the emperor's man and I won't fall for any of his tricks."

"What happened here?"

The question caught the man off guard. "Excuse me?"

"I understand that you can't trust me. But tell me what happened here? To this place…to this part of the galaxy. Tell me about this emperor and what he's done."

"I'm holding a blaster to your head and you want a _history lesson_?"

"Look, I'm unarmed. So's my companion. You look like a seasoned fighter. You could take us both out easily. What can we do to you?"

Still, the man hesitated. He looked into the Doctor's face and then glanced at Donna, torn. Finally he relaxed his grip on the weapon, but only slightly. "You from some backwater world or something?"

"Something like that," the Doctor said.

"Heh. Alright, I'll tell you what you want to know. But I won't hesitate to shoot either of you if you prove yourselves enemies."

"Fair enough."

"It started about twenty, twenty-five years ago," he began. "Armies of droids were sent to dozens of colony worlds and began the systematic annihilation of the people there. No reason given, just murdered them all. Men, woman, children, some unable to defend themselves. The Jedi were sent to deal with the threat and deal with it they did. But that was only the beginning." As he delved into the story, the Doctor noticed he no longer had his attention on the blaster.

"They found out the droids were just the fodder. The real threat was their Sith masters who were biding their time, pulling the strings, planning. Their forces took Naboo and then attacked Coruscant itself. When the Jedi were recalled to defend it, it proved their undoing."

There were more running footsteps and the man stopped his story, listening intently, but the footsteps soon faded into the distance.

"It's not safe here," he said. "Keep moving."

The Doctor nodded, thinking. He knew of the Jedi, had encountered them a couple of regenerations ago. Skilled, highly disciplined warriors, the lot of them. That they could ever fall was a worrisome notion indeed.

"The Sith tried to assassinate the chancellor," the man said. "But when the Jedi went to defend him, they found themselves betrayed. Soldiers, clones designed for the war, turned against their superior officers, murdered them. The chancellor himself had ordered the attack on Coruscant. The Jedi were all wiped out."

"The chancellor," the Doctor said. "Now emperor?" he guessed.

The man gave a wry chuckle. "Now you're getting it. _Emperor Palpatine_ " – the name was a bitter taste in his mouth – "wanted power and he sure got it. Destroyed our best chance at defeating the Sith and created this," he waved a hand to encompass their surroundings, "this Death Star to crush any who would oppose him."

"Except for you."

The man grunted. "Someone has to be a pain in his ass. Might as well be me."

The Doctor couldn't help but grin. "What if I told you that none of this was ever supposed to happen?"

"This a trick question?"

Shaking his head, the Doctor grinned even wider. "Whatever happened here was never the way things were meant to be. Palpatine's changed events in his favor. He's not getting away with it."

The man let out a short bark of laughter as if he thought it merely a joke but when the Doctor only smiled back at him, his amused expression faded. "So what? You got a time machine somewhere around here."

"Well…yes."

"Your joking. Who…just who the hell are you?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Yeah? Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor." But boy, did he love it when people asked that!

"Well then I suppose it's good to meet you, Doctor. Name's Han Solo. Still don't know if I trust you, but I'll take the risk."

"I don't know if you two have noticed, but we're still on an alien spaceship with people who want to kill us," Donna pointed out.

The Doctor nodded. "We should get to the TARDIS. Come on."

The three hurried back along the corridor, back the way they'd come, careful and peering around the corners, looking for droids or more enemy soldiers. So far, the way remained clear.

When they rounded a corner and the TARDIS came within sight, the Doctor smiled widely. "There she is," he said proudly, pulling a key from his pocket.

"That's it?" Han said incredulously. "It's an odd design. How many people fit in that thing?" How he wished he had his own dear _Millennium Falcon_ with him now, but as it was, he didn't even know if she still existed. He frowned, remembering the attack, remembering the power failure, the hull breach, the screams of the dying. If this man, this stranger who had come here with nothing more than a woman, a blue box, and a fantastic story about changing the past, really could pull off such a miracle…

The Doctor opened the doors wide and strode in, taking in the blue glowing console, the tree-like structures that branched upward and grazed the ceiling. His shoes made soft, scuffing footsteps as he went for the console.

Han walked in after him and his gaze widened as he took it all in.

"Huh," he said.

The Doctor, busy hitting buttons on the console, mumbled, "Usually people are more impressed. Wow, it's bigger on the inside! Yes, I know, dimensionally transcendental. You don't say."

Han and Donna ignored his prattling as he typed and found what he was looking for. He pulled a screen forward to show them.

"This is from the TARDIS archives," he explained. "A history of all of time and space. Well, most of it. Er, a lot of it. Anyway, this is history how it was supposed to happen."

On the screen, the three of them read. In a universe in which Palpatine had not communed with his future self, in a universe in which he did not so quickly gain control, things had been very different. There had been no widespread massacres, at least not on the scale Han had recited to them. Coruscant had been attacked, the Jedi betrayed and nearly wiped out, yes, except that…except that.

"What happened to him?" Donna asked, pointing to one part of the screen. The Doctor touched the image and it expanded to take up the whole screen. It was the image of a young man in modest clothing, with sandy blond hair and blue eyes. According to the record, he'd directly challenged Palpatine, and though he'd nearly died, he'd survived it. What's more, that day marked the end of the war and of the Empire.

Han shrugged. "No idea."

It was a promising lead though, one the Doctor wanted to pursue. Quickly, he read through the files the TARDIS had collected. And he began to understand. Oh, how everything suddenly made so much sense.

"I know what happened," the Doctor said, running one hand through his hair. "Oh, that's clever."

"What is it?" Donna said, having hardly made any progress before the Doctor had finished reading.

"That man Palpatine is as evil as they come but he's _clever_." Ruffling his hair, the Doctor continued to stare at the screen. "All you need is a single event, one single event, no matter how insignificant, the flutter of a butterfly's wings, and everything changes according to plan. It's perfect in its simplicity and only accomplishable if you have knowledge of future events."

"Doctor, what is it?" Donna repeated.

"Here." The Doctor pointed at the screen. "This Luke fellow is a key to the fall of the empire, but from what I can discern, comparing the TARDIS records from the original universe with this one, he doesn't even exist here and what's more, I went back further and found his father who is also conspicuously absent from the new timeline and discovered that this one, Anakin is supposed to be this prophesized 'chosen one' but instead turned dark and became this powerful Sith Lord –"

"Hold it!" Donna said, exasperated. "Slow down, Space-man, so the humans can understand you."

The Doctor, not even realizing that he'd spoken all that in one rushed sentenced, paused for breath. "Ahem, right. Anyway," he continued in an attempt to explain things more slowly – it was just that when he got excited, he couldn't help the rush of words that spilled forth. "The point is, it all leads to one event, or more precisely, one man." He pulled up another image on the screen, that of an older man with long blond hair and a steady gaze.

"Qui-Gon Jinn," the Doctor said. "In the original universe, he, his padawan, and the queen they were escorting, were forced to land on a planet called Tatooine and there they found a child, a special child with the potential to become one of the greatest Jedi the galaxy had ever seen. But in this universe, he was killed before ever making that trip. Killed when his fighter was downed over a small colony world and he was taken prisoner by none other than a younger Chancellor Palpatine."

Donna stared at the screen, taking it all in. "But wouldn't the others still make that trip?" she asked.

"Ah, but the point is, it was Qui-Gon's idea to take the boy with them. Without him, Anakin would have spent the rest of his days a slave. Even more, he never would have met the princess and would never have had children."

"So there was no one to oppose the growing empire," Donna said, nodding as she understood.

"You really think all that makes a difference?" Han asked, skeptical. He had seen many horrors during his struggle against the empire and the Sith, had seen many a friend die fighting them. While he wanted to believe things could be changed as the Doctor insisted, it was hard to hope such a thing was truly possible.

"Everything makes a difference," the Doctor said. "Even the smallest of events, the most humble of individuals. Even the timing can change the outcome." His voice faded. In his reading, he'd learned of Qui-Gon's death in this universe, but so too had he learned of that fateful encounter with a certain tattooed Sith Lord a mere two months later. He frowned in thought.

A moment later, he forced a grin back onto his face and he clapped his hands together. "Well, now that we know, it's time we got back," he said to Donna. "We can give you a ride out of here as well," he added to Han.

To his surprise, Han shook his head. "I've still got a friend here who needs me," he said. "Big furball got himself in trouble trying to help me out and I owe him. Once I'd lost those Stormtroopers, I was planning on doubling back to find him. I won't leave without him."

The Doctor nodded in understanding. He knew well the pain of losing a companion, oh how well he knew. "Then let us help. We'll all get out of here together."

Han seemed surprised but again he shook his head. "I can't ask you to risk your life for this. Seems like you're the only one who can fix this mess we're in."

Biting his lip, the Doctor glanced back at the screen, at the historical archives from the original timeline, and then looked back at Han. Reluctantly, he nodded. "Save your friend. We'll put this universe back on track."

Han's mouth twisted in a lopsided grin. "I'll hold you to that." He turned away from the console and descended the shallow ramp to the TARDIS doors, went to open them. He sent one last glance over his shoulder at the Doctor. "Good luck, Doc."

The Doctor nodded. "And you."

Han Solo opened the doors but as soon as he did, the air was alive with blaster fire, red bolts of energy bouncing off the TARDIS, some hitting the inner walls and sending sparks cascading. Han hurriedly slammed the doors.

"We've got a problem," he said.

As soon as the TARDIS had been fired upon, the Doctor was back at the controls, clearing the archival records from the screen and bringing up an image of the outside of the TARDIS. Sure enough, a line of white armored Stormtroopers stood in the corridor just beyond the doors, their blasters aimed at the TARDIS.

"Come out with your hands up!" one of them shouted.

"Does he actually expect us too?" Donna said incredulously.

Han smoothed back his ruffled hair, staring at the screen. "Great," he mumbled. "This is just great." He scanned the control room with his eyes, thinking. "Do you have any weapons?"

"Weapons?" The Doctor scoffed. "Of course not."

Han raised a brow. "Do you often land in hostile territory without any weapons?"

"You'd be surprised," Donna remarked.

"Never needed any. Things always seem to work out." He didn't say any more than that, remembering the times things hadn't worked out so well, the times when he'd lost a companion, the times when so many people had died. But no, he scolded himself. It wouldn't do to think of such things now.

"The Wookie tried to escape," one of the Stormtroopers said and that got everyone's attention. Han stared hard at the screen, his chest suddenly tight. "He's still alive, but won't be for long if you don't give yourselves up."

Han went rigid, his hands balled into fists. He looked at the Doctor and his expression was deadly serious. "I'm going out there."

"Are you mad? They'll kill you on the spot!" Donna said before the Doctor could speak. "They're just saying that to get you to come out."

Glancing up at the screen and back at the door, Han grit his teeth, clearly torn. "I can't take that chance." He started again for the door. "Too many people have died. Good people."

"Including yourself?" the Doctor said.

Han hesitated, wanted to say something, but instead wordlessly opened the door. This time, no blaster fire broke the air and Han exited the TARDIS, raising his hands above his head as he did.

Another voice, this one not belonging to the Stormtrooper, spoke up and the Doctor felt his blood run cold at the sound.

"You too, Doctor," the voice said, an old rasping voice. "And the woman."

Glancing at his companion, the Doctor was more than ready to step outside and face this threat head on. But he couldn't ask Donna to come with.

Donna was the first one to the door. "Might as well. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can save the universe."

"Donna…"

"Don't chicken out on me now, Space-Man. We've been in worse scrapes. Compared to those, this is nothing!"

The Doctor had to smile at that, seeing the truth in her words. He knew she was nervous but refused to show it, proving to him that she could handle herself, make her own decisions. Firmly setting his jaw, the Doctor walked out of the TARDIS, Donna by his side, and faced the enemy troops, all of them with blasters leveled at their three prisoners.

From behind them, almost as if he were emerging from the very shadows, a figure appeared. Tall and imposing, wearing flowing black robes and a cowl that threw his face in darkness, Emperor Palpatine stood before them.

He lifted one ancient, gray-veined hand. "I remember you, Time Lord," he said. "You helped me once, long ago."

Han shot the Doctor a look but the Doctor kept his gaze riveted on the old man in front of him. "What I did, I did to stop the damage you were doing. I did not do it for you."

Palpatine chuckled softly. "Whatever your reasons, I must thank you. It was quite annoying listening to my younger, naïve self pester me with questions about the future. I gave him what he sought so that he might stand in my place now. But really, had you not arrived when you did, I fear I might have gone insane and therefore not achieved the power I now hold. So in a way, you are partly responsible for creating the monster you see before you."

The Doctor's gaze was hard. "We will stop you," he vowed.

Beneath the hood, Palpatine's mouth twisted into a cruel grin. "That will be most difficult once you are dead."

"Many have tried," the Doctor said. "All have failed."

"Oh, yes, I know much about you and your innate talent for surviving when you should not. I know about the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Master, so many enemies you have made."

"Then you know I have defeated them all."

"Of course, of course," Palpatine said. "And then they returned. Again and again, you fought them and while you fought, people died. Again and again. No matter what you do, your enemies always return. Is that truly defeat, Doctor? Perhaps you have not been so victorious as you think."

"We will stop you," he said again.

Palpatine chuckled again, a dark sound devoid of humor.

"Where's Chewie?" Han asked, unable to contain himself. "I swear, if you've done anything to him…"

"You are in no position to make threats," Palpatine said. He motioned to his Stormtroopers who came forward and roughly grabbed Han, the Doctor, and Donna by the arms, wrenching them away from the TARDIS. "You will see him soon enough."

"Then he's alright?"

Palpatine turned to head back down the corridor, his Stormtroopers keeping a firm hold on their prisoners. He cast a cold look back at them. "Your friend has been executed," he said simply.

"Why you –" Han made as if to lunge at the Sith Lord, the only thing holding him back being the arms of the Stormtrooper that held him captive. "You'll pay for that," he hissed.

"I rather doubt it."

Seething, Han sent a dark look the Doctor's way. "You change the past, all of this never happened, right?" He didn't wait for an answer. Throwing all his weight downward, he wrenched himself from the startled Stormtrooper's grasp and in the same move, pulled out the blaster he'd had concealed in his belt. Still on the floor but free for the moment, he raised it and pulled the trigger, fired quickly, one shot and then another. The Stormtrooper holding the Doctor fell and the one holding Donna let out a cry of alarm as the energy bolt seared his armor at the knee.

"Then go change it!" Han said.

With no time to think, the Doctor grabbed Donna's arm and rushed back to the TARDIS.

"Wait, we can't just leave him!" Donna protested.

"This universe was never meant to be. We're the only ones who can change it and we can't do that by dying."

"But, Doctor…"

He shot her a look and she was shocked by the coldness in his eyes, eyes that had seen too much death, too much war. There was no room for grief or sympathy. The anger, the frustration, the regret…that would come later.

"Kill them!" Palpatine ordered behind them and they heard more than saw the bolts of energy from the Stormtroopers' blasters as they slammed the door. Above the console, the screen still showed the live image from the corridor.

Han returned their fire, gave what he could. One bolt of energy nicked him on the shoulder and he flinched but didn't stop. There was no cover, no escape. Another bolt hit him in the ribs and he cried out, nearly dropping his own blaster, a weapon that only had a few shots left in it.

He glanced back at the TARDIS knowingly, even managed a slight grin. "Go," was all he said.

They went.

Neither of them saw the outcome of the battle, though they both thought grim thoughts as the center column rose and fell and the TARDIS dematerialized, flying at incredible speed through the Time Vortex.

Neither of them spoke.

For once, there was nothing to say.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Again, thanks all for reading and thanks to Bianca Valdez for the lovely review; it made my day :)**

 **Here is the third and final chapter of this story. It was really fun to write and I hope you all enjoy it.**

* * *

Act III

With a groan, the TARDIS materialized and the Doctor ran out the doors hardly a second after it did.

"Doctor?" David said, turning at the sound, a look of confusion on his face. "But you only just left!"

"Time travel, David. Try to keep up." The Doctor strode into the tent past David who opened his mouth to speak, closed it, opened it again, then looked at Donna who had emerged from the TARDIS and came to stand near him.

"He…" David trailed off, uncertain.

"We know what's going on," Donna said.

A moment later, the Doctor came out of the tent holding the emergency beacon in one hand.

"Do you know where their base is?" the Doctor asked, rolling the beacon around in his hands.

"Well, they have several."

"Which one's closest to the crash site?" The Doctor's voice was urgent. "To which one might they have taken their prisoner?"

"Uh, okay," David said. "When our scouts find something, we mark it down on the map. Just a minute." He headed at a fast walk across the camp and entered another tent, returning a moment later with a rolled-up map. Kneeling on the ground, he unrolled it, placing rocks at its corners to hold it down. "It's not perfect, we map it as we go along."

There wasn't much to it. Most of the region was desert but David's people had marked the location of the camp in the center of the map and outward from there had included anything of interest, including a stream, a canyon, the nearby colony, and yes, some of the enemy base camps.

"We found the crash site here," David said, tapping the map. "So the closest base would be here."

"Right," the Doctor said. "We're going to need your help."

David folded his arms. "And just what exactly are you planning?"

"The man who sent out that distress signal, who left us this" – he held up the beacon for emphasis – "is very important. Palpatine plans to have him executed but that cannot happen. We need to hurry."

"And you need us? Can't you just take your time machine in there and get him?"

"Not that simple," the Doctor replied, shaking his head. "The place will be swarming with droids and Stormtroopers and we don't know how long it will take to find him. Before we can do that, we need a distraction."

David sighed, beginning to understand. "You want us to attack them, draw all of their forces to the front of the compound while you sneak in the back."

"That's the idea."

David stood then, thinking it over. "I don't know. I can't risk the lives of my men for a simple diversion."

"You came here to destroy the Daleks. Surely you came prepared."

"Well, _yes_ , but even so, we need time to come up with a plan of action. We can't just go barreling in."

"I never thought I'd say it, but we're out of time." The Doctor let his eyes roam the camp where most of the soldiers were watching this exchange, Susan among them. He always hated killing, especially when the killing helped him. No matter what he had to do, be it save a single life or a whole civilization, if anyone had to die for him to succeed, it always left a bitter taste in his mouth. "This is important, just as much so as your mission to wipe out the Daleks. Saving this one man may just save the future."

David bit his lip in indecision. He too looked around at the faces of his people, people who would obey his orders without question. His gaze fell on Susan, the woman he loved. She gave a reassuring smile, nodded.

"Alright, we'll see what we can do," he finally relented.

The Doctor nodded, not liking it, but knowing there really was no other choice. "Thank you."

"But there is something that you should know," David added. "They're working with the Daleks."

"Two birds, then," the Doctor commented in acknowledgement and then began to walk back to the TARDIS.

* * *

Night fell. Droids patrolled the compound, their mechanical steps rhythmic against the hard ground, their heads swiveling in search of possible threats. At each corner of the surrounding fence was a resting bolt turret.

Beyond the perimeter, David lowered the scope. "Alright then," he said. He looked around at his people, men and women who'd fought beside him against the Daleks. They'd all agreed to fight beside him again, for a cause no less great. They all toted weapons and stood ready, grim determination etched onto their features.

"We're doing the right thing," Susan said, reading the doubt on his face.

"Can we really be sure of that?"

Susan put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled. "I trust the Doctor."

"Alright then," he said again. He checked the power setting on his blaster one last time.

* * *

The first shot rang out disturbingly against the silence. More followed.

"And that's our cue," the Doctor said.

Against the rent air newly alive with the sound of blaster fire, the TARDIS groaned and disappeared.

* * *

Inside the compound, a group of four Stormtroopers stopped, ears pricked at the sounds of battle. They looked to each other, uncertain.

"Should we…?" one of them said.

"They should be able to handle it. We've got our own duties to attend to," another said, tilting his head at the figure in the middle of the group, a robed man with his hands bound behind him.

"Yeah, you're right. Probably just a few rebels. They'll be wiped out in no time."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," the man between them spoke softly.

The troopers merely laughed. "Anyway, it won't matter for much longer, now will it? You've been sentenced to execution."

The man smirked.

A second later, before any of the Stormtroopers could react, he flew into action, throwing his weight at one of them and taking him down, in the same move scissoring his legs and felling a second.

The other two quickly drew their blasters and fired as Qui-Gon hit the floor and rolled. Already, the troopers he'd taken down were getting back to their feet, shaking their heads, dazed.

Spotting the handle of his lightsaber on one of the trooper's belts, he jumped back up and spun around, calling on the Force. The weapon smacked into his hands, the metal cool and satisfying, and he heard the familiar hum of its blade as he activated it. Quickly, carefully, with a flick of his wrists, he severed the bonds, feeling the heat of the blade between the heels of his hands.

As the Stormtroopers continued to fire, he whipped around, his hands free, lightsaber flashing and humming before him.

* * *

When the TARDIS landed, the room was all but deserted. The Doctor and Donna stepped out to find themselves in some sort of storage room, metal containers stacked against the walls, pipes running along the ceiling. There was a door that presumably lead into a corridor.

"Come on," the Doctor said and he used his sonic screwdriver to unlock the door. Silently, it slid up into the ceiling. From where they were, they couldn't hear the sounds of battle but the eerily silent corridor was proof enough that their plan had worked.

Quickly, they made their way deeper into the compound and shortly came upon what could only be prison cells. There were several of them, bare and each with a single bench set against the wall. Force field generators were installed in the cell frames, deactivated for the moment. All the cells were empty.

"They might have been moving him when David and his people attacked," the Doctor said. "Either way, we have to find him and get him out of here." He peered further down the corridor, deciding which way they should go. "Donna, what do you think?" When there was no answer, he looked back over his shoulder. "Donna?"

The hallway behind him was empty.

 _No…_ He rushed back down the corridor the way he had come. "Donna!" he called as loudly as he dared.

She never answered.

* * *

 _Great,_ Donna thought. _Of all the lousy things that could go wrong, you just_ had _to get yourself lost. Way to go!_ She ran a hand over the smooth metal door, trying to find a latch or a button or something but found nothing. What kind of door didn't have any handle in it, anyway?

As soon as they'd found the cells, the Doctor had gone ahead to examine them while she'd found a ramp leading down to what she presumed were more cells. There were, but she hadn't expected a bloody door to come crashing down behind her and from the lack of response to her incessant pounding, it was probably sound-proof too. _Figures._

Sighing, Donna gave up on the door and decided to head further in. There was probably another way up from here.

Like the cells above, these were all empty. She hurried past them, giving them no more than a cursory glance, her mind on finding the Doctor and this Jedi bloke and then getting the hell out of here.

She rounded the corner and came face to helmet with a Stormtrooper.

The trooper and his buddies, as surprised as she was, quickly lifted their weapons.

"Don't move," one of them said as an afterthought.

"Excuse me?" Donna said. _I've bloody well had enough of this._ "Get those things out of my face. Don't you know who I am?"

The troopers exchanged what would have been confused looks if their expressions could be seen behind their visors, caught off guard by her bravado.

" _Well?_ "

The first trooper made up his mind and leveled his blaster at her face. "You will come with us."

"Oh _brilliant_ ," she said, holding out her hands to show she was unarmed. "But if you try anything, Mister, you'll be in big trouble 'cause you have no _idea_ –" In mid-sentence, she launched herself at the trooper, grabbing for his blaster and wrenching it out of his hands, striking him in the visor with the butt of the weapon. Stunned by the sudden attack, he reeled backward, crashing into the trooper directly behind him.

"–who you're dealing with," Donna finished, blaster aimed at the fallen Stormtroopers.

A second later, something hard and cold pressed against the back of her head.

"Drop it," said a voice and Donna sighed, her victory short-lived. She let the blaster drop from her hand to clatter to the floor. Gloved hands grabbed her arms, binding them behind her. Donna huffed, irritated, outwardly seeming as if this was merely an inconvenience. But inwardly, she _was_ afraid.

The two troopers she'd knocked down got back to their feet, the first grabbing his blaster from the floor and she could feel their heated glares through their visors, though she could not see them. She was grabbed roughly by the arm and shoved forward and she had no choice but to walk with them down the hall. She figured they would take her to whomever they called their leader, perhaps even that Emperor Palpatine himself. She shuddered inwardly at the thought. But even so, she did not again attempt escape; she held no illusions they wouldn't kill her for trying.

After several minutes of walking through metal corridors that mostly looked the same, passing by mostly empty control rooms, they arrived in a large, circular chamber. Here, the floor and the walls were made of some type of white metal, segmented by black piping. Consoles lined the walls, monitors alive with activity and judging from the holographic images they displayed, Donna figured they were security feed. On several of them, she saw the commotion just on the outskirts of the compound, saw David's people engaged with Stormtroopers and droids. She scanned the monitors, searching for any sign of the Doctor but saw nothing.

In the center of the room, staring at an enlarged bank of monitors, his back to them, was a man in a gray uniform.

"General, we've captured one of them," the trooper holding Donna said.

The man turned around and she saw that he was middle-aged with long gray hair pulled behind his ears, his expression set in firm lines.

"Ah, good. A prisoner to interrogate," he said, his mouth stretching into a bitter smile.

"You'll get nothing from me," Donna said, again using bravado to hide her fear.

"Oh, I'm sure not at first." He spoke in a condescending tone as if to a child. That smile was sickening, Donna decided. "Buuuut, they always relent in the end. And honestly, I think this may be the little push we need to finally eliminate those pesky colonists. I'm sure after this, the Emperor will see fit to grant my wish."

"Well if you're just so keen to kill everyone, why do you need me for?"

"Hmmm, _well_ , when you put it that way, I suppose I could just kill you now." He tapped a finger on his chin in thought. "But interrogation is just so… _fun_."

"You're sick," Donna said.

The man shrugged. "Oh, where are my manners. I'm General Gaskine and I run this place."

"I'm very well not pleased to meet you," Donna grumbled.

"And you are?" Gaskine said, ignoring her comment. When Donna didn't answer, he said, "It's only polite."

Donna scoffed. "A polite torturer? That's a new one."

Another Stormtrooper entered then at a run and addressed the general. "The prisoner's escaped, sir. He's already cut down plenty of soldiers and he's heading this way."

Gaskine frowned. "Gather your men and go after him, them."

"But sir, most of the men are on the perimeter fighting off the attack from the outside."

Gaskine cursed. "I don't care how you do it, just _do not_ let him escape."

"Yes sir. I –" A sudden commotion cut him off, the sound of blaster fire reverberating in the corridor just outside. A moment later, the sounds ceased and the door opened and a man entered, a man far different from anyone else Donna had seen in this place. He was tall and wore a simple robe, long blond hair hanging loose over his shoulders. And in his hand he held a weapon the likes of which she had never seen, a sword with a blade made of light that hummed in time with its every movement.

Calmly, he strode into the room and approached the general who Donna could see was very nervous at the mere sight of this man.

"You are responsible for the death of many innocents," said the man, his voice calm, his expression a mask.

"N-not I. The emperor gives the orders, I just follow them."

"Then you are no better than he." Still, the man approached and now General Gaskine took a step back, eyeing that menacing glowing blade with uncertainty. "In the name of the Galactic Republic, I am placing you under arrest."

"Y-you won't get out of here alive," Gaskine boasted. Donna took pleasure from seeing the man squirm. The feeling didn't last, however, as the man's face suddenly lit up and, despite the newcomer's calm menace, he grinned wickedly.

Donna suddenly had an ill feeling in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

Smoke billowed into the air from the destroyed turrets and small fires had erupted across the compound. David took cover behind the wreckage of a speeder as blaster fire lit the air. Already, he'd lost several men and more were wounded.

He motioned to one of his men, a dark-skinned soldier named Terry. "We've given them enough time," he said, raising his voice over the sounds of battle. "Signal the retreat."

"Yes sir," Terry said. He peered out over the cover, waiting for the right time to bolt out and order the retreat. He hesitated then, his eyes fixed on one of the buildings within the compound, even as the blaster fire died down somewhat.

"What is it?" David asked, shifting so he too could see what Terry saw.

He heard the screams first before anything. And then he saw flashes of blue.

* * *

The Doctor quickly made his way through the building, taking cover whenever a Stormtrooper happened to rush by, but all those he saw on his way were too busy with too much on their minds, to so much as notice him.

He came upon a console room and tried one of the computers in hopes it might tell him something, perhaps let him tap into the security feed. He did not get far, however, as a voice, a terribly familiar one, spoke from behind him.

"You will step away from the console," the gravelly voice said, "Doctor."

* * *

A moment later, reinforcements entered the circular room, filing in in ones and twos until they could surround Donna and Qui-Gon and the remaining Stormtroopers. Gray and shaped like giant pepper pots, they each sported two stick-like appendages and a single eyestalk.

"The attackers are retreating," one of the Daleks said. "My forces are securing the perimeter."

"Good, good," General Gaskine said, regaining his confident demeanor. "Seems we can work together after all."

"Your troops are incompetent."

Gaskine waved one hand in the air dismissively. "If you don't like it, you'll just have to take it up with the emperor."

The Dalek's eyestalk moved in a manner which conveyed its irritation.

"Anyway, we're expecting another ship full any day now."

"They will be as useless as the last."

Gaskine frowned, his mouth forming a thin line. "You could at least respect your allies. If not for us, you would not have gotten so far."

The Dalek's blue glowing eye focused on the general. "If not for us, you would have gotten nowhere." A single flash emanated from the Dalek's gunstick and with a single, cut-off scream, General Gaskine crumpled to the ground.

"You are incompetent, General," the Dalek said and then turned around to face Donna and Qui-Gon who had stood watching this exchange, ready to make a move except that they had found themselves surrounded.

"You have come with the Doctor," the Dalek said.

Though she hadn't yet met them, Donna had heard enough from the Doctor to know that these creatures were not to be taken lightly, despite their odd appearance. Even so, she managed to keep her head high.

"You bet I did," she said. "You also know that he's going to stop you."

"That is your opinion," the Dalek said. "Opinions are irrelevant."

Another Dalek entered the chamber then. "The battle is ended. All hostiles have either fled or been exterminated."

Donna sincerely hoped that Susan and David had been among those who'd fled.

"Who are you?" Qui-Gon whispered, his eyes fixed on the Daleks.

"Donna. I'm with the Doctor. We're here to rescue you."

"Good job with that, by the way."

The lead Dalek turned its attention back to them. "You are not needed. You will be exterminated."

"EXTERMINATE!" one Dalek cried and the rest of them took it up, the death sentence like some bloodlust and frenzy.

"EXTERMINATE!"

After seeing how quickly and easily the general had been taken out, Donna glanced around the room in desperation, seeking an impossible way out of this situation. She turned to Qui-Gon only to find that he had his eyes closed, his expression calm, and his hand wrapped tightly around the hilt of his deactivated lightsaber. No help there, she assumed, and she knew that even if she were to make a break for it, the Daleks could shoot her down before she took two steps.

" _EXTERMINATE!_ "

"Oh now, that's very rude, innit?" said a voice by the door and the Daleks stopped their advance. "Do you greet all your visitors this way? Well…you're Daleks, I suppose you're supposed to. Do they teach you all that at Dalek manners school? Exterminate everything and ask questions later?"

"Doctor, you are so late, it's not bloody funny," Donna said.

"Hello Donna!" The Doctor gave a small wave. "You had me worried there for a bit. Still, probably needn't have worried. You're alright. Hello Qui-Gon!" The Doctor moved farther into the room and following closely, was a Dalek.

"Doctor –!"

"Oh, no need to worry. Caught me by surprise, sure, but with a little adjusting" – the Doctor flipped over the sonic screwdriver in one hand – "it's now a helpless octopus in a reprogrammed metal shell."

"Enough, Doctor," the lead Dalek commanded. "You and your companions will be exterminated."

"That's a bit harsh. Are you going to exterminate us because you want to or because you were ordered to?"

"Daleks take orders from no one."

"I have to disagree. I think that emperor bloke is the one calling all the shots. You're just his pawns. Just like the droids, the Stormtroopers, and just like that poor man you've killed. He's just using you to gain more power."

"This alliance is temporary. The emperor has given us the means to create more Daleks and soon the Dalek Empire will rise to power. The Sith will become irrelevant."

"You really think Palpatine's just going to hand you this power and let you become a formidable rival?" the Doctor said, incredulous. "He's more likely to destroy whatever Dalek making facilities you create and once you've helped him destroy his enemies, he won't need you anymore."

"We are stronger," the Dalek said.

"Really? Then why make this alliance in the first place if you're so strong, eh? I think you're desperate. The Time War has taken it's toll on your once mighty empire and now you're desperate to regain that strength. You won't find it here."

"Silence! You will stop talking."

The Doctor shrugged. "Eh, it was bound to happen."

"You will all be destroyed now."

"I figured it would come to that, but if I may have at least one last word with my companion before I die."

"Then say it."

"Yeah, um…duck."

The Dalek hesitated and that's all they needed. Lightsaber humming suddenly to life, Qui-Gon moved faster than the Daleks could react and cleaved the leader's eyestalk clean off.

"Aaaaahh!" The lead Dalek jerked and spun about, waving its appendages in the air. "My vision is impaired! My vision is impaired! Help, help!" In a complete panic, it reverted back to its last order and fired its gunstick. The bolt of energy went wide, ricocheting off the wall and burning a shallow furrow in the ceiling. More bolts soon followed and if Donna hadn't put her faith in the Doctor and ducked when she had, she would have been toast.

As it was, not all of the Daleks were so lucky. In the sudden panic and confusion, several of them were hit, their domes exploding in a shower of sparking wires.

In the midst of it all, Qui-Gon pressed the attack, dancing and twirling among the chaos, lightsaber moving in a blur and deflecting the bolts while cutting through Dalek bodies, metal and flesh all.

Those who were still intact backed out of range of the deadly weapon and fired at the Jedi in rapid succession. He parried all their attacks, moving with impossible speed, able to sense the path of the energy bolts before they got to him. With his free hand, he pushed at the air and sent a Dalek careening across the chamber to barrel into its comrades and they stopped firing, momentarily disoriented.

"Get out of here," Qui-Gon said. "I'll hold them off."

"We're not leaving you," Donna said.

The ghost of a smile flickered across his face. "I'm not sacrificing myself, if that's what you think." His lightsaber moved in a blur, deflecting three energy bolts nearly simultaneously. The fourth bolt grazed him in the shoulder. Without wincing and without so much as a glance at the Dalek attempting to flank him, he used the Force to lift it in the air and hurl it headfirst at the wall, leaving it dazed but alive. "Get to the corridor."

"He knows what he's doing," the Doctor said, pulling Donna into the hallway. As soon as they were out of the chamber, Qui-Gon spun and sent out a wave of Force energy like a sonic pulse that drove the Daleks back in all directions and their firing halted. Then he made a bolt for the corridor, leaping over the downed remains of destroyed Daleks just as the firing resumed. Even with his back turned, he deflected the bolts that came too near, some of them searing his flesh in their closeness and then he was on the other side.

" _EXTERMINATE!_ " one of the Daleks shouted, trying to rally those remaining, though most of them were dazed or too damaged to attack, and it lined up its gunstick at Qui-Gon, Donna, and the Doctor.

Calling on the Force, Qui-Gon threw his lightsaber back into the chamber and its path was straight and true. Before the Dalek could get off its shot, it found itself speared through the middle, the blade easily having sliced through metal and the soft flesh inside. As the lightsaber deactivated, it shot back through the air and into Qui-Gon's hand just as the Doctor's sonic screwdriver made a high-pitched noise and the metal door slammed shut.

The three of them stood in the sudden silence in the corridor, none of them even out of breath.

"Come on, TARDIS is this way," the Doctor said and led them on.

"I would thank you for the rescue, but I don't even know who you are," Qui-Gon said.

"I'm the Doctor. This is Donna."

"I know what you're called, but not _who_ you are. Why have you come here?"

"We were just passing by, happened to pick up that little distress signal you left."

"There is truth to what you say, but I sense you are using it to hide an even greater truth." He stopped then and looked the Doctor in the eye. "I would know why you came."

The Doctor hesitated, thinking. Finally he said, "We came to find you because we've seen a future in which you died today. It's not pretty." An image flashed in his mind, the TARDIS record of how this man should have died, a mere two months from now. And yet that time made a difference. In the real timeline, he'd had time to make an emergency stop on Tatooine. In this timeline, he had not.

Qui-Gon looked like he wanted to say more, that he knew the Doctor was still holding something back. Instead, he nodded, apparently satisfied. He didn't like it, but he did understand the Doctor was treading dangerous ground even mentioning the future to him and that it was not Qui-Gon's place to know such things.

"There is a Sith here," Qui-Gon said as they resumed walking.

"I know," the Doctor said.

"He must be stopped."

"But not today," the Doctor said. Qui-Gon sent him a sidelong glance but he didn't elaborate.

The TARDIS appeared before them as they rounded a corner and headed down the corridor. The Doctor opened the door and they entered, the Doctor immediately going for the console and tapping out commands as Qui-Gon looked around in silence, admiring the alien design and the clever way in which it fused dimensions, though it confused his ability to sense the Force.

The Doctor glanced at the small screen and tweaked a knob on the console, waiting. When he had what he was looking for, he memorized it and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Donna asked.

"There's one last thing I have to do," the Doctor said. "Wait here."

"Wait – Doctor, you expect me to _wait_ here. What am I, a housewife?"

"Donna." There was a warning in his voice.

Qui-Gon touched her lightly on the shoulder. "Your friend is right. I believe this task is for him and him alone"

Donna looked like she wanted to argue but after glancing at Qui-Gon's and then the Doctor's faces, she clamped her mouth shut. Nodding his appreciation at the Jedi, the Doctor turned and headed back into the compound.

* * *

Palpatine was waiting for him when he arrived, having sensed his presence through the Force. The Doctor found him looking at an array of viewscreens, his cowl pulled up over his head, his hands tucked neatly into his long sleeves.

"You and your allies have made quite a mess of the Daleks, Doctor," he said in his aged voice.

"They would have turned on you once they had what they wanted," the Doctor said.

"True enough. It seems you've saved me the trouble of having them eliminated."

"You never needed them. You'll build a strong enough empire by yourself. An empire to be feared."

"I am well aware. But that empire will fall."

"All empires fall."

"That will change."

"You know why I'm here," the Doctor said.

"Of course."

"Then you know I must do this and you know why."

"Your intentions are noble, Time Lord. But you will not succeed."

"Last of the Time Lords, actually. Which means the burden of keeping watch over the timeline falls on my shoulders and mine alone. That is more than enough incentive for me."

"I am sure it is. But you can imagine the position I am in now. I will let nothing and no one stop me." His voice grew more intense as he spoke, turning to face the Doctor full on. "And my new Sith Empire will be feared all the more when I become the Emperor who declared the noble Time Lords extinct!"

He pulled his hands out from his sleeves and suddenly lightning was arcing through the air from his fingertips and slamming into the Doctor's chest. The Doctor cried out and dropped to the floor. He could feel his hearts flutter and one of them stopped momentarily. He gritted his teeth against the pain, sweat beading his brow. Then the pain abated, let him breathe.

"You try to save the universe, time and again, Doctor, but when you are gone, the universe will not mourn you. No one will even mark your passing."

The lightning hit him again and he felt paralyzed, unable to stand, unable to even move, even to think. To think… The Doctor closed his eyes, felt electricity coursing through his every pore, felt the fire in his veins. But there was something else, something beyond the pain. Something soft and light that brushed at the very edges of his mind. He'd felt it as soon as he'd arrived on this planet, but he hadn't known what it was. The power that Palpatine was using to attack him was infused with it, though in the lightning it was corrupted and fierce. But not evil. He sensed no good or evil in the sensation at all, just a sense of being, of just…existing.

"I think when I'm done with you, I'm going to kill your little friends," Palpatine said casually and sent another burst of lightning from his hands.

The Doctor lurched across the floor and suddenly it all connected and as he pushed out a hand to ward off the next attack, he felt something flow through him and out his hand and then Palpatine was thrown back hard, colliding with the console behind him. Ignoring the residue of pain that wracked his body, the Doctor scrambled to his feet and went after the emperor.

"This isn't possible," Palpatine said, the shock written across his face as he forced himself back to his feet. He saw the Doctor's determined expression and reeled back. Thrusting out his hand, he caught him with the Force, an invisible hand wrapping around his neck and he began to squeeze.

The Doctor choked, his air cut off when he was so close to his adversary, yet stopped dead in his tracks. He held out a hand, tried to call upon whatever it was that had saved him before. But he had only just discovered this new power; Palpatine had been using it for years. His concentration was broken.

Spots were starting to appear in his vision and the Doctor knew he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. Instead of trying to break free from an invisible grip, he pushed forward, reaching with all his might toward Palpatine and found that he was close enough for his fingers to brush the emperor's face.

It was all he needed.

Closing his eyes, the Doctor probed and found the entry point. Realizing what he was doing, Palpatine released the Force hold and tried to back away. But the Doctor already had a hold and now he pressed both hands against his face.

"No!" Palpatine shouted but the cry was distant and muffled.

Images flashed through the Doctor's mind.

 _Still so many deaths. A single man being thrown to his death, another turning to the path of darkness, thousands of identical troops turning on their superiors in a single instant of terrible and merciless slaughter._

The Doctor cringed against the onslaught of such sights, but continued, probing deeper, searching for every stray thought, every memory, that had no place in this younger mind.

 _A man clad in black whose crimson blade dealt death with every stroke. A mighty empire under siege by a handful of rebels. A young man writhing in pain, screaming in agony against the drone of laughter and then…and then…_

The Doctor staggered back, the connection broken. With no more than a sigh, Palpatine collapsed, unconscious, to the ground.

The future was still so dark and all because of this one man. The Doctor looked down at him, seeming so frail where he lay on the ground. It would be so easy for any other man to end him right there and right at that moment. But the Doctor was not any other man. As much as he wanted to put an end to the Sith Empire and save all those billions of lives, this was the way the future was meant to be. Eventually, this empire would fall, as all are destined to.

Turning away, the Doctor left the room.

Countless dying screams assailed him on his way.

* * *

"Here we are. Coruscant, home sweet home."

The TARDIS had landed near the Jedi temple on a platform looking out over the multi-layered city of tall buildings and air traffic. It reminded the Doctor a bit of New New York, even including the peculiar smells.

"Thank you, Doctor," Qui-Gon said. "And you, Donna. Now I can report what I've seen there. It's important that the Republic know what is happening. The Sith are finally returning." His voice was grim.

"You do that," the Doctor said. "And you might want to consider checking up on Naboo sometime soon."

Qui-Gon raised a brow.

"Just a thought."

Nodding, Qui-Gon said, "May the Force be with you," and turned toward the temple.

* * *

Several of David's men had died. More lives that wouldn't have ended if not for the Doctor. He offered to take them back to Earth, but they refused. There was still work to be done here, it seemed. He didn't stay in the encampment for long, only enough to find out what had happened during the attack and then say his goodbyes to David and Susan. Guilt bid him leave as soon as possible.

"It's not your fault, you know," Donna said, coming to stand by his side as he plotted their course in the TARDIS.

The Doctor didn't answer.

"Sometimes people die," Donna continued. "It couldn't be helped."

"They were good people."

"Yes, but think of all the other good people you just saved."

The Doctor sighed, thoughts lingering on the darkness that awaited this galaxy. "Something strange happened back there," he murmured.

Donna came to stand beside him at the console. "What kind of strange?"

"I can't feel it now, but there was something in the air in this galaxy, some sort of…well, a Force. I could feel it back there, tapped into it. Now…the TARDIS is blocking it all out though."

They stood in silence for a while.

"But…you know what really doesn't make sense," Donna said. "When we first arrived here, that man Palpatine…he'd seen the future, he was connected to his future self. How could that have happened?"

"That's rare, extremely rare," the Doctor said. "You never see that kind of thing in nature."

"Then maybe it wasn't natural? Do you think maybe someone did it? And if so, why?"

The Doctor shot a glance at her, his thoughts racing. If someone had been responsible for this… His mind briefly went back to the Monk but he dismissed that thought. The Monk could never have pulled it off. So someone else perhaps… But what had their purpose been? Why change the future of an entire galaxy, ensure the survival of an evil empire?

So many thoughts flew through his mind that only a Time Lord could look at them all, examine them, try to put together this puzzle.

Still, the answer eluded him.

He pulled a final lever on the console and the column began to rise and fall. With a deep groaning sound, the TARDIS disappeared.


End file.
